


Bedtime Stories and Knives

by Diary



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: Ambiguity, Awkward Conversations, Bechdel Test Fail, Canon Character of Color, Canon Gay Character, Canon Queer Character, Dark Character, Disturbing Themes, Flashbacks, Gen, Harm to Children, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Season/Series 05, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 22:26:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6772735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warning: Contains references to and a brief flashback scene of a child being hurt. Maya appears in Tom's hotel room. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bedtime Stories and Knives

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Scandal.

Tom wakes up to a knife against his throat.

“You’ve gotten weak, Tommy,” Maya comments.

He stays completely still.

“Or maybe you always have been. Bedwetting and catatonia.  I remember when you’d sneak into my cell and curl up around me in bed. I could never convince you to do anything useful, but you’d bring me your brownies and paint my nails. Do you remember?”

She slightly withdraws the knife, and he reacts.

Soon, they’re standing across the room from one another with him aiming his gun and her holding the knife.

“Go ahead, Tommy,” she tells him. “Finish what you tried to help Eli do.”

“We both know he would never kill you. We also know he could have found and recaptured you without President Grant’s approval.”

“You framed me.”

“What I remember is that this isn’t the first time you’ve held a knife to my throat. I was eight years old, and when Command refused to open the door, you dug the blade in. Most people with pale skin, their scars heal dark and thick, but mine have always healed so well you can’t see or even feel them with a causal glance or touch. It’s still there, though.”

“I need a place to stay.”

“You can stay until 1100 tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” She lowers the knife.

Hesitantly, he lowers the gun.

…

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep with me?”

From his place on the floor, Tom answers, “Yes.”

“Why 11 in the morning?”

“That’s when the person paying for the room is supposed to show up.”

“Cyrus Beene? He’s hurt Livvie before.”

When he doesn’t respond, she continues, “But I’ll let him keep you. I honestly don’t know where you and Livvie get this from. Eli never touched me after he locked me up, but he never touched anyone else, either. Don’t you two realise, there’s a truth to the saying, ‘If they’re willing to cheat with you, they’ll be willing to cheat on you.’?”

“His marriage to Ambruso has never been real.”

“Hm. Maybe not. Tell me, then, when you were sweet, little Tom, quiet, serious Agent Larsen, standing in the background, trailing after the President, did he ever look at you with interest? Even if his first marriage was real, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have looked. Or did you become interesting after a former B6-13 agent on the run offered to help him make his next President?”

“Second marriage,” Tom corrects. “I didn’t want him to see me, and so, he didn’t.”

She laughs.

…

In the morning, she touches his neck. “Has he ever asked?”

“Why would he?”

“Oh, sweetheart, you’ve never been able to keep secrets from me. Don’t try now. He’s felt it. Did he move on without saying anything? Just assume you got in it supermax? Or did you tell him someone hurt you when you were just eight years old?”

“He asked,” he tells her. “I told him I’d had it all my life and didn’t know how it’d got there.”

“You lied.”

“Your daughter got belonging to unavailable people from her father. I got using powerful men for my own gain from you. I have more affection for Cyrus than you ever did Command, but he’ll never put me in a hole. I was smart enough to go for one who will never fall in love with me.”

Laughing, she says, “Touché.” Kissing his cheek, she adds, “Take care of yourself, Tommy.”

…

Cyrus walks up to the hotel door and hears, “Hello, Cyrus Beene. Lovely morning, isn’t it?”

He freezes.

Maya smiles. “You’re thinking about calling someone. About screaming. Don’t.”

“Little Tommy never had enough toys growing up. I’ll let him have this one. But if he can’t take care of you properly, he’s old enough he deserves to lose it. I wouldn’t tell anyone you saw me, Mr Beene. If you do, it’ll come out you’ve been sleeping with the man who killed the President’s son. What really happened with the Harrisburg shooting will come out.”

“Not to mention, Tommy was stabbed by either Rowan or my Livvie. I’m not sure which, but Tommy’s convinced it was the former. You don’t want him going after her. That’ll just make the trouble you’d be in even worse. Best you just let him play with you and get what use out of him you can while I disappear.”

She walks away.

…

“What in the hell are you playing at?”

Tom looks up from the floor. Standing up, he dumps the pillow and blankets on the bed. “You’re going to cause a noise complaint if you keep shouting. Playing at?”

“Marie Wallace. Maya Pope. Whatever she’s calling herself these days.”

Tom sighs, and his hand goes up to his neck. “It looks like she didn’t hurt you, at least. I woke up with a knife to my neck.”

“You- Are you- No, I don’t care. You told her we were sleeping together?!”

“No,” Tom answers. “Why would you think that? Did she say something? Did you confirm- What did you tell her?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Good.”

“She knew.”

“She knows you’re gay and paying for this room. Meaning, she knows how this could potentially look. My goal is to stay off Command’s radar. She’d use anything she could to get a chance at killing him or worse.”

Cyrus sighs. “Do I even want to ask what ‘worse’ could possibly be?”

“No,” is Tom’s simple response.

Sitting down, Cyrus says, “We need to make a plan on how to deal with her if necessary.”

Nodding, Tom sits down.

…

Past…

“Hello, sweetheart,” Maya greets. “Want me to read about Poseidon tonight? Pretty soon we’ll be at Hades and Persephone.”

Holding his finger to his lips, Tommy moves closer.

Nodding, she studies him. “Why so quiet, baby boy?”

Reaching into his pocket, he carefully pulls something out and holds it towards her.

Her breath catches at the sight of the knife.

“Tommy-”

The door starts to open, and she immediately grabs him, turns him towards the door, and holds the knife to his neck. Into his ear, she murmurs, “Not a sound, Tommy.”

…

She sighs when she sees the gauze around his neck. “I’d ask how you managed to get back in here, but that would be pointless, wouldn’t it?”

Slowly, he approaches her, picks up her hairbrush, and begins gently brushing her hair.

…

Opening her eyes, she sees Rowan standing in the closed doorway and staring at the sleeping boy.

She tightens her arms around Tommy when Rowan begins moving towards them.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes: Just to make it clear, no sexual harm was meant to be implied towards child!Tom. Maya was acting as a mother figure (albeit an obviously twisted one) and let him sleep in bed with her the way many parents co-sleep with babies and young children.


End file.
